In addition to head coach Matt Nagy, the Bears also decided to fire GM Ryan Pace today, and the organization is initially eyeing three names to lead their front office. Per Albert Breer of TheMMQB (via Twitter), the Bears requested interviews with Browns VP of football operations Kwesi Adofo-Mensah and VP of player personnel Glenn Cook. Meanwhile, NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport tweets that the Bears also requested an interview with Colts director of college scouting Morocco Brown.
[RELATED: Bears Fire HC Matt Nagy, GM Ryan Pace]
Adofo-Mensah started his NFL career as director of football research with the 49ers before getting hired into his current role in Cleveland. While the Stanford product hasn’t been in Cleveland all that long, he’s already turned into a popular GM candidate, with the executive getting an interview for the Panthers GM opening last offseason.
Cook was previously in the Packers organization before joining the Browns in 2016. After initially starting in the scouting department, Cook eventually got promoted to VP of player personnel.
Brown had a seven-year stint as the Bears assistant director of pro personnel, so he’s already got plenty of familiarity with ownership. He’s served as a top executive in Indy for the past five years, with Brown earning credit for his draft evaluation. He interviewed for the Falcons GM gig last offseason.
The Bears have a unique opportunity here. They’re aversion to “risk” has made them irrelevant for decades. Hopefully, they’ve learned their lesson.
Hey, Trestman was a risk.
And the idiot McCaskeys are keeping Phillips? The only way to clean house is to start with Gramma then Down the line. Right now there is still incompetence running the show. This is proven by having a 79-year-old man help you pick a new front office.
Strauss: “Idiot McCaskeys”? Really? “Gramma”? Really? And you think a 79-year-old man on a search committee proves incompetence in the front office? Really? Please show some respect.
They need to use the Bulls as an example and what that’s done for them. Clean house and step out of your comfort zone. Don’t just hire safe retreads. Look for new innovative smart football minds.
Great example of the model they should follow. A president that know basketball and the GM that executes the plan. The Reinsdorfs are nowhere close to the basketball decisions and shouldn’t be. AK & Eversly are executing their plan and making it work. Were there hiccups? Yes, but they corrected and moved on. Let the Business Operations worry about Stadium leases, statues and Benny the Bull’s flying popcorn and let the Basketball Operations build a Championship.
The Bears need to do the same thing. Let Sweaty Teddy worry about the new stadium and give the Football Operations President a budget, a couple of accountants and move out of his way.
Good points and example…Reinsdorf does the same with the CWS and is only involved when Kenny Williams or Rick Hahn want more $$’s above the budget. Ryan Pace and Phillips screwed up the salary cap and drafts. McCaskey’s only job should be to approve spending above whatever budget they create.
The Cubs and Blackhawks are also good examples of ownership handing the reins to professionals and then getting the heck out of the way. There’s 3 franchises in the same city right under McCaskey’s nose and he’ll still find a way to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. They need a complete culture change and that’s just not gonna happen under his ‘watch’.
Dear Comments: wasn’t Nagy seen as “a new, innovative, smart football mind”?
Pretty sure Bozo the Clown would seem like a smart, innovative football mind to the McCaskey’s.
He was an OC for half a season
Has any big market team been irrelevant for longer than the Bears?
And the Clippers don’t count.
The fact that professional sports teams pull in millions of dollars a year invalidates any suggestion that they are irrelevant.
Well the Cubs were irrelevant for the better part of 108 years. Blueprint right there in town.
Most things that are irrelevant don’t last 108 days much less 108 years.
Jets
See if you can spot the Rooney rule candidates who have no shot at the job. Watch the Bears violate the rule and lose some more draft picks. Oh wait, Thanks to Pace they don’t have any. Good luck NFL. You can’t punish people who are so stupid they punish themselves.
Why would Brown and Adofo-Mensah have no shot at the job??? They’re both intelligent and successful men who have helped their teams achieve some level of success in building their teams. Sounds like they should be among the candidates to be considered. Just because they’re men of color doesn’t mean they are only being considered because of their skin color.
Because you don’t know the McCaskeys obviously. Rod Graves was a smart brown man who should of gotten the job and went on to bigger and better things with the Cardinals and the League Office. I thought it was hilarious that they had the nerve to even bring his name up in another column on this site. Pretty sure Rod would inject himself with COVID before he’d take a job with the Bears.
No, I wasn’t aware of the McCaskey’s reputation. How unfortunate if it’s true, they only would be hurting themselves by limiting their choices. Thanks for clarifying your take and thanks even more for the laugh regarding the Rod Graves COVID self-injection line.